Finger shield



'Sept. 30, 1947. E. w. G OETTEL FINGER SHIELD Filed 001;. 28, 1944 .El/ALY/VE m 0057224 Patented Sept. 30, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FINGER SHIELD Evalyne W. Goettel, Stockton, Calif.

Application October 28, 1944, Serial No. 560,885

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a finger shield and more particularly to a shield intended for use while applying polish to finger nails.

At the present time, it is customary to apply colored polish to finger nails and it has been found difiicult to apply this polish without a portion thereof getting upon the fingers along the margins of the nails. The polish which gets upon the fingers along margins of the nails must be wiped off and this is diflicult to do without smearing the polish coating the nails.

Therefore, it is one object to the present invention to provide a shield which may be applied to a finger in such relation to the nail thereof that when liquid polish is applied to the nail and portions of the brush project from sides of the nail, polish will be prevented from being accidentally applied to the finger as well as to the nail.

Another object of the invention is to so form the shield that the finger will be gripped between side arms and a longitudinally extending resilient tongue forming a portion of the shield, the nail being fully exposed between inturned upper ends of the arms so that polish maybe applied to all portions thereof.

Another object of the invention is to so form the inturned upper ends of the arms or jaws that they will conform to the shape of side edges of a nail and have gripping engagement with the flesh of a finger at opposite sides of a nail.

Another object of the invention is to provide a shield which can be formed from a single blank of sheet metal, or other suitable material, the

shield being of such formation that it may be grasped by its outer front end and pressure applied to its tongue while applying the shield to a finger or removing it.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a'perspective view showing the improved shield applied to a finger of a persons hand.

Fig. 2 is a. side elevation of the shield.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view thereof.

Fig. 4 is a view looking at the rear end of the shield.

This improved shield is to be applied to a persons fingers while applying liquid polish to the finger nails. The shield is formed from a single blank of resilient sheet metal, or other suitable material, and has arms I extending from opposite sides of a strip or elongated body 2. The strip 2 is bent upwardly and rearwardly intermediate its length to form an upper tongue 3 connected with the lower portion of the tongue by a curved portion 4 constituting a spring for the tongue and holding said tongue spaced upwardly from the fiat lower portion of the tongue or body. The arms I are bent at their junction with the strip so that they extend upwardly therefrom and the arms are curved longitudinally, as shown in Fig. 4, and form jaws having their upper ends bent inwardly and downwardly to form bills 5 terminating in transversely curved inwardly bowed edges 6. The free edges of the bills bear upon the upper surface of the tongue 3 and attention is called to the fact that the tongue is of such length that its free rear end portion projects rearwardly from the arms or jaws, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. Therefore, when the shield is being applied to a finger it may be held by its front end portion adjacent to the upwardly curving spring l and the protruding rear end of the tongue 3 engaged under the users finger, the shield being then thrust rearwardly of the finger so that the bills 5 of the jaws will slide longitudinally of the finger into place at opposite sides of the finger nail. The tongue is depressed as the shield is thrust upon the finger and exerts upward pressure against the finger, so that the bills 5 0f the jaws I will have gripping engagement with the finger. The inwardly bowed curved edges of the bills conform to the curvature of side edges of the finger nail and compress flesh along sides of the nail so that side portions of the nail will be exposed and liquid polish may be applied to all portions of the nail. This polish is applied with a small brush and, if a portion of the brush projects laterally from the side edge of a nail, the brush will contact the adjacent jaw instead of the finger, and polish will thus be prevented from getting on the finger. After the nail has been coated with polish, the shield is removed and the appearance of the finger will not be spoiled by polish along the sides of the nail. In addition, it is not necessary to wipe polish from portions of a finger alon the sides of the nail and there is no danger of polish on the nail becoming smeared by a cloth or sheet of tissue used for removing wet polish from the sides of a finger.

.It should also be noted that, whil a manicurist is applying the polish to a nail, the portion of the shield projecting forwardly from the finger may be grasped and the finger readily held in a convenient position for appyling the polish, or turned toward one side or the other as the polish is applied.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention illustrated and described is to be taken as one practical embodiment of the same and that various changes relative to material, size, shape, and arrangement of parts may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

A finger shield comprising an elongated strip of resilient sheet material of even width throughout its length and bent upwardly and rearwardly intermediate its length to form a lower member and an upper member spaced upwardly from the lower member and connected with the front end thereof by an arcuate spn'ng portion, said upper member being of greater length than said lower member and projecting rearwardly therefrom, an appreciable distance and tongues formed integral with and extending laterally from opposite sides of the rear end portion of said lower member and bent to allow their inner ends to form arms extending upwardly therefrom, said arms being curved longitudinally and constituting jaws having their upper end portions bent inwardly and downwardly to form bills overhanging the said upper member in spaced relation to the free rear end portion thereof and limiting upward movement of said upper member, said bills having smooth transversely curved edges across their inner ends for bearing against a finger under which the said upper member is thrust and extending along opposite side edges of a finger nail.

EVALYNE W. GOETTEL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Girvin Oct. 29, 1940 Stedman May 19, 1942 Powers et a1 June 23, 1942 Landsman Sept. 22, 1942 Number 

